But wouldn't this cause a trend of people not buying commercial software, and just waiting for them to go out of business so they could get it for free?
Then what would happen? We'd have free versions of stuff that is about 4 years behind the current for-profit stuff. But wait... Isn't that where we are anyway?:-)
I'm not quite sure how this is Off Topic... I understand that I phrased it in (at least what I consider) an amusing way, but it really WAS a distraction for them, I'm sure!
Imagine if your company is embroiled in this much crap like they were and everyone shifts from talking about how much Daikatana sucks to how the company's trying to run interference by having Romero's chick pose nude for publicity!
I bet that was really annoying for them.
I think OffTopic was unfair. MetaModerate that guy!:-)
How can he babble on about distractions and such inside the company and fail to mention KillCreek's new breasts and their subsequent display (along with the rest of her body) in Playboy!?
FUD? No -- TRUTH.
Feel free to actually show that I'm wrong.
It is NOT true that only public companies have to file annual reports -- ALL corporations do in many states.
Since IANAL and I don't know all states, then I will concede this because I don't feel like researching. In Maryland, this is not the case.
Filing as an S-Corp DOES NOT relieve you of the obligation to file tax returns for the corporation -- it merely shifts who pays the tax. And THIS IS OPTIONAL.
Well, yes, you do file a form, but you're not "double-taxed" because all the income is taxed as personal income. Your salary at your personal tax level including SS and Medicare, your profit distributions are taxes normally, but without SS and Medicare.
As for a law -- try the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Also try the Internal Revenue Code.
Ummm... ok, maybe I asked you to "name a law", but please actually tell me something here. Quote me something. Naming a law does not make you correct.
Suffice it to say that your opinions are all wrong and unless you have specific legal training in these very complex areas, you should really refrain from giving out advice like this. You may even be practicing law without a license. All I was attempting to do is highlight some potential problem areas that should be considered before taking this path.
Well, I pay a lawyer and an accoutant to handle these things, so, no, IANAL, but I pay one to give me the right information. (*waiting for the "you should get a new lawyer" adolescent quote...*)
You must then file annual reports
Not true. Only publicly traded companies have to do this.
file corporate tax reports
S-Corps don't even file corporate tax forms! It is all done as a part of your personal taxes.
keep separate bank accounts (which are more expensive to maintain that personal bank accounts)
Most banks will give you a business bank account for free with Internet banking options if you maintain US$5000 in it. If you're under that, there are other accounts which require $1000 that don't get the internet banking. (Or you can pay $12 for each month that you go below $5000). No Biggie.
You are subject to double taxation - the corporation pays what it collects as fees, then you have to pay personal income tax on what you take as a salary
Also not true in the case of S-Corps. ALL income in an S-Corp is personal income. There is NO CORPORATE TAX.
The main reason businesses ask their "contractors" to start them is so they can avoid paying taxes. This in most cases is illegal.
Please tell me ANY law, in ANY state, that they are breaking. I'm really curious.
If you do not maintain a corporation properly, its existence can be disregarded (called "piercing" the corporate veil) and YOU can be PERSONALLY liable for any debts of the corporation -- INCLUDING TAXES. Trust me, you do NOT want the IRS and/or your state's tax authorities chasing you for back taxes, interest, and penalties -- all of which can be many times more than the actual tax owed.
Actually, the "employer" (i.e. your client) is held responsible for the taxes in this situation, not you. Also, maintaining a corporation basically involves filing taxes and paying yourself. Not a troublesome task once you've done it a couple of times.
IMHLO (L=legal), you should not agree to anything other than being paid as an employee with full withholding without first talking with an attorney who represents YOU -- definitely NOT your prospective employer's attorney (because of a conflict of interest).
www.Paranoid.com
The biggest legal issue that I'd say is to make sure that you have good contracts drawn up. Ones that protect you as the consultant (penalty clauses for late payment, etc.). Once those are there, there are very few legal considerations. An S-Corp, C-Corp and LLC will all protect you, except in the event of negligence. Negligence bypasses all personal protection, regardless of the type of corporation. Lawyers make their living at proving negligence, but it doesn't matter. You can be sued by your employer if you're a normal employee too, AFAIK.
Anyway, as someone who runs his own, currently one-man, corporation, I just needed to burst the paranoia bubble here.
Honestly, there are a few situations I can see this being valid:
1) small apps
2) "oh sh*t!" apps (gotta get this done yesterday) that will be rewritten someday soon.
3) well-chosen, specific, pieces of a distributed system.
4) apps written by developers who don't have the skills to design and write modular software, regardless of the language they use.
All that aside, the company still manufactures the drug, don't they? They still have the brand name, don't they? Why is it a loss of money for them to have to compete with someone?
SCENARIO:
Company A puts $X (very large) into researching a drug.... discoveres a formula and then starts marketting it at $Y (with a pad in it to try to recover from X).
Company B puts $0 (that's a zero) into researching a drug.... steals the formula from Company A... and then starts marketting the SAME drug at $Z (no need to pad for make up for zero investment).
Company A will NEVER do this. Z is much less than Y! It will never be able to recoup the costs of the research.
I am not trying to take medication out of the hands of people who need it.
I am also not saying that the drug companies have been giving the drugs away at low, low prices.
I don't work for any drug companies.
[/Disclaimer]
I completely agree with this post. If everyone does this, it will have the effect of terminating drug research. If there's no money to be made after spending US$500 million researching something, then it won't be done! Then, we'll all die in the streets of Code Red XXV infection!
We here at Slashdot would like to take the time to say that strong competition and innovation have been the twin hallmarks of the technology industry, and if the future is going to be as successful as the recent past, the technology sector must remain free from excess regulation.
What the hell was that? Did a lawyer have his hand up your ass and make you say that?
Re:Many Hands Make Shite Work
on
Mob Software
·
· Score: 1
Thank you... You beat me to that one:-)
Re:Many Hands Make Shite Work
on
Mob Software
·
· Score: 1
I agree completely... give me 5 people and I'll write any software you want.
a tech support guy at ntidesign told me that they don't advertise it, but they'll do a domain's email for $5/month. This includes SMTP, POP, and IMail webmail.
2) It is the required authentication for all of.Net. So, if they get even more Passports created, they can spew out some more BS marketing hype about how many Passport users there are and how it's not an intrusion to require it for.Net!
So, If I'm putting the stones to some chick.. is this thing going to rate my performance too?
"Well, she was really moaning loud there... but it sounded kinda fake... We'll give him a 5.5"
The sad fact of this is that Bill Gates OWNS all the rights to most of Leonardo's works today including the Cotex.
You mean Bill Gates bought Leonardo Da Vinci's tampons? Wait... Tampons didn't exist then! Was that yet another invention that Lenardo dreamed up before its time!? Wow... it seems that we discover more and more things that guy invented every day!
(I believe you meant the "Codex"... and, yes, I know it is "Kotex"...)
why didn't they point out their patents so long ago when open standards were being created
Don't get me wrong.... I hate RAMBUS too, but...
It was only a patent application at the time, and they had no guarantee that it would be granted. (It would have been nice to disclose the application, though.)
I recomment something additional. If you're going to wire the crap out of your house and it's being constructed, you'd be foolish not to put currently needed cables in the wall besides the conduit. Why take up space in the conduit if you know that you want the wire right away?
I paid for a guy to run >4000 ft of Cat5e and 12 pairs of speaker wires along with video cameras and wire a home theater (wired for both a TV and a projector for future expansion).
I paid someone else to do this work, but it is going to be quite incredible. Modulating video cameras mounted in the kids rooms over the cable line to channel 133 and 134 (also front and side doors and 2 driveway cams on 135-8)... Auto-switching speakers in the room (switches to TV audio as soon as you turn the TV on, etc.)
To reiterate... put the conduit in AND the wire in now. You will fill your conduit with cables (especially any coax used for audio/video) pretty quickly.
Also, check with your builders first to see codes on how big the holes can be in the studs and joists without needing reinforcement.
Slashdot Mirror
Then what would happen? We'd have free versions of stuff that is about 4 years behind the current for-profit stuff. But wait... Isn't that where we are anyway? :-)
Imagine if your company is embroiled in this much crap like they were and everyone shifts from talking about how much Daikatana sucks to how the company's trying to run interference by having Romero's chick pose nude for publicity!
I bet that was really annoying for them.
I think OffTopic was unfair. MetaModerate that guy! :-)
Tom
How can he babble on about distractions and such inside the company and fail to mention KillCreek's new breasts and their subsequent display (along with the rest of her body) in Playboy!?
Feel free to actually show that I'm wrong.
It is NOT true that only public companies have to file annual reports -- ALL corporations do in many states.
Since IANAL and I don't know all states, then I will concede this because I don't feel like researching. In Maryland, this is not the case.
Filing as an S-Corp DOES NOT relieve you of the obligation to file tax returns for the corporation -- it merely shifts who pays the tax. And THIS IS OPTIONAL.
Well, yes, you do file a form, but you're not "double-taxed" because all the income is taxed as personal income. Your salary at your personal tax level including SS and Medicare, your profit distributions are taxes normally, but without SS and Medicare.
As for a law -- try the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act. Also try the Internal Revenue Code.
Ummm... ok, maybe I asked you to "name a law", but please actually tell me something here. Quote me something. Naming a law does not make you correct.
Suffice it to say that your opinions are all wrong and unless you have specific legal training in these very complex areas, you should really refrain from giving out advice like this. You may even be practicing law without a license. All I was attempting to do is highlight some potential problem areas that should be considered before taking this path.
Well, I pay a lawyer and an accoutant to handle these things, so, no, IANAL, but I pay one to give me the right information. (*waiting for the "you should get a new lawyer" adolescent quote...*)
Tom
You must then file annual reports
Not true. Only publicly traded companies have to do this.
file corporate tax reports
S-Corps don't even file corporate tax forms! It is all done as a part of your personal taxes.
keep separate bank accounts (which are more expensive to maintain that personal bank accounts)
Most banks will give you a business bank account for free with Internet banking options if you maintain US$5000 in it. If you're under that, there are other accounts which require $1000 that don't get the internet banking. (Or you can pay $12 for each month that you go below $5000). No Biggie.
You are subject to double taxation - the corporation pays what it collects as fees, then you have to pay personal income tax on what you take as a salary
Also not true in the case of S-Corps. ALL income in an S-Corp is personal income. There is NO CORPORATE TAX.
The main reason businesses ask their "contractors" to start them is so they can avoid paying taxes. This in most cases is illegal.
Please tell me ANY law, in ANY state, that they are breaking. I'm really curious.
If you do not maintain a corporation properly, its existence can be disregarded (called "piercing" the corporate veil) and YOU can be PERSONALLY liable for any debts of the corporation -- INCLUDING TAXES. Trust me, you do NOT want the IRS and/or your state's tax authorities chasing you for back taxes, interest, and penalties -- all of which can be many times more than the actual tax owed.
Actually, the "employer" (i.e. your client) is held responsible for the taxes in this situation, not you. Also, maintaining a corporation basically involves filing taxes and paying yourself. Not a troublesome task once you've done it a couple of times.
IMHLO (L=legal), you should not agree to anything other than being paid as an employee with full withholding without first talking with an attorney who represents YOU -- definitely NOT your prospective employer's attorney (because of a conflict of interest).
www.Paranoid.com
The biggest legal issue that I'd say is to make sure that you have good contracts drawn up. Ones that protect you as the consultant (penalty clauses for late payment, etc.). Once those are there, there are very few legal considerations. An S-Corp, C-Corp and LLC will all protect you, except in the event of negligence. Negligence bypasses all personal protection, regardless of the type of corporation. Lawyers make their living at proving negligence, but it doesn't matter. You can be sued by your employer if you're a normal employee too, AFAIK.
Anyway, as someone who runs his own, currently one-man, corporation, I just needed to burst the paranoia bubble here.
Tom
Honestly, there are a few situations I can see this being valid:
1) small apps
2) "oh sh*t!" apps (gotta get this done yesterday) that will be rewritten someday soon.
3) well-chosen, specific, pieces of a distributed system.
4) apps written by developers who don't have the skills to design and write modular software, regardless of the language they use.
just my $0.02
Tom
The fact that this thread exists at all proves that /. is a bunch of crazies!
They need to support real SmartCards which offer strong encryption onboard and payment approval
AFAIK, the cards that Amex uses support 1024-bit RSA Encryption. How strong is strong?
SCENARIO:
Company A puts $X (very large) into researching a drug.... discoveres a formula and then starts marketting it at $Y (with a pad in it to try to recover from X).
Company B puts $0 (that's a zero) into researching a drug.... steals the formula from Company A... and then starts marketting the SAME drug at $Z (no need to pad for make up for zero investment).
Company A will NEVER do this. Z is much less than Y! It will never be able to recoup the costs of the research.
I guess no coffee yet didn't help either :)
- I am not trying to take medication out of the hands of people who need it.
- I am also not saying that the drug companies have been giving the drugs away at low, low prices.
- I don't work for any drug companies.
[/Disclaimer]I completely agree with this post. If everyone does this, it will have the effect of terminating drug research. If there's no money to be made after spending US$500 million researching something, then it won't be done! Then, we'll all die in the streets of Code Red XXV infection!
What the hell was that? Did a lawyer have his hand up your ass and make you say that?
Thank you... You beat me to that one :-)
I agree completely... give me 5 people and I'll write any software you want.
T
1) It is their primary authentication mechanism
2) It is the required authentication for all of .Net. So, if they get even more Passports created, they can spew out some more BS marketing hype about how many Passport users there are and how it's not an intrusion to require it for .Net!
T
uh huh huh.... :-)
He said "fellatio"
I'm with you on that one... I can't believe people are responding to this like it's a real post!
Yeah... slashdot has really dropped in quality. Lots of FUD lately... Kind of disappointing.
So, If I'm putting the stones to some chick.. is this thing going to rate my performance too?
"Well, she was really moaning loud there... but it sounded kinda fake... We'll give him a 5.5"
Feel free to post any contrary information. :-)
You mean Bill Gates bought Leonardo Da Vinci's tampons?
Wait... Tampons didn't exist then! Was that yet another invention that Lenardo dreamed up before its time!? Wow... it seems that we discover more and more things that guy invented every day!
(I believe you meant the "Codex"... and, yes, I know it is "Kotex"...)
Don't get me wrong.... I hate RAMBUS too, but... It was only a patent application at the time, and they had no guarantee that it would be granted. (It would have been nice to disclose the application, though.)
Yeah, It's kinda like kicking the crap out of an old woman....
Sure, it might be fun, and it feels good while you're doing it, but, after all is done, what have you accomplished really?
I paid for a guy to run >4000 ft of Cat5e and 12 pairs of speaker wires along with video cameras and wire a home theater (wired for both a TV and a projector for future expansion).
I paid someone else to do this work, but it is going to be quite incredible. Modulating video cameras mounted in the kids rooms over the cable line to channel 133 and 134 (also front and side doors and 2 driveway cams on 135-8)... Auto-switching speakers in the room (switches to TV audio as soon as you turn the TV on, etc.)
To reiterate... put the conduit in AND the wire in now. You will fill your conduit with cables (especially any coax used for audio/video) pretty quickly.
Also, check with your builders first to see codes on how big the holes can be in the studs and joists without needing reinforcement.